Why do we need organisations?

　　Organisations can achieve results that cannot be produced by individuals on their own. This is because organisations enable people to:

　　§ share skills and knowledge

　　§ specialise and

　　§ pool resources.

　　As the organisation grows it will reach a size where goals, structures and control procedures need to be formalised to ensure that objectives are achieved.

　　These issues are discussed in further detail below.

　　Illustration 1 – The nature of organisations

　　When families set up and run restaurants, they usually do not have to consider formalising the organisation of their business until they have five restaurants. After this stage responsibilities have to be clarified and greater delegation is often required.

　　Expandable text

　　There are many reasons why organisations exist:

　　§ They satisfy social needs, e.g. the companionship of people with similar tastes leads to the formation of clubs, societies and unions. People join organisations because they consider that they will be more secure, more successful, have more needs and wants satisfied and be better off.外语学习网

　　§ Organisations exist primarily because they are more efficient at fulfilling needs than individuals who attempt to cater for all their requirements in isolation and without assistance from others. The main reason for this is the ability that organisations have of being able to employ the techniques of specialization and the division of labour. In particular:

　　§ They save time – a group can accomplish a task more quickly than lone individuals.

　　§ They pool knowledge – members of organisations can share knowledge and skills.

　　§ They are power centres – an individual rarely has the power to influence events on a large scale whereas most organisations can influence demand, win orders and create wealth.